LOOKING FOR AN ACCOMMODATION – Doug Cohen, principal of the Newport Hotel Group, was back before the planning board June 11 with a new plan to expand his hotel holdings near Hyannis inner harbor through a regulatory agreement with the town.

But willing to work on regulatory agreement

Newport Hotel Group is back with another plan to expand its number of rooms on Hyannis inner harbor, this time on property it already owns.

Newport principal Doug Cohen and his attorney, Michael Ford, met with the planning board June 11 for an informal discussion of plans to build a four-story, 68-room, year-round addition to the Hyannis Harbor Hotel on Ocean Street. It’s less than half the size of the building proposed last year, he said.

A regulatory agreement with the town would be necessary for relief from setback, height, lot coverage and parking restrictions. Even though it’s not required, Newport plans to bring the plan before the Hyannis Main Street Waterfront Historic District Committee for comment.

Ford said the company has noted “considerable support in the business community and in informal regulatory meetings for a year-round hotel.”

Cohen, with his brother Jon, has hotels in Falmouth; Newport, R.I.; North Conway, N.H.; and New Haven, CT, and hopes to open the Ocean Mist in South Yarmouth this week. They bought the Hyannis Harbor Hotel in 1999.

Planning board members were concerned about traffic flow at the almost four-acre site, which includes the existing 136-room hotel. David Munsell had a little fun with a drawing that showed the new building surrounded by trees. “I thought maybe you were building a bear habitat there,” he said.

The plan, Cohen said, is to close off one of the driveways to Ocean Street and use the existing drop-off area for both hotel structures. Ford added that the company is open to the possibility of overflow off-site parking.

The new units will have kitchens, but the building won’t have a restaurant or large meeting space. “I don’t need to compete with local restaurant owners,” Cohen said.

Ford said Newport would like to move through the regulatory agreement process over the next few months, including review by the town council, in hopes of starting construction in the fall.